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How to Get Free Books to Review on Your Blog

We all like getting something for free, right? If you love to read like I do, then you will love the idea of getting free books sent to you in the mail! I have been doing this now for over 2 years and have received dozens of books for free in the mail.

These are not cheap books from no-name authors. These are books from best-selling authors. Why would authors and publishers send you free books? The answer is simple. They are looking for honest reviews and promotion. In exchange for getting a free book in the mail, you will need to write a review post on your blog and on a book retail site like Amazon.

Here are a few publishers I have used in the past to get free books:

BookSneeze – I have probably used them the most. They are connected with Thomas Nelson Publishers. You will need to have an active blog when applying for a free account. You can get access to as many books as you want, but only one at a time. They have both hard copies and electronic versions available if you enjoy reading on the Kindle. You’ll need to post a short review of the book on your blog and rate the book on Amazon.

Waterbrook Multnomah – I have also done several reviews for this publisher as well. They have a tiered strategy, which allows bloggers with more influence to get access to more books. They use the Klout website to determine this.

NetGalley – You can sign up for a free account. They are connected to many different publishers. You can request to review books from any publishers, but they have the right to accept or deny your book review proposal for any particular book.

Books directly from authors – An interesting thing began to happen for me once I started reviewing books on my blog. Authors began to contact me directly. I have had several authors mail me their book in exchange for reviewing their book on my blog. If you have a podcast, you can even request a free book ahead of doing an interview with an author.

A Few Additional Resources

If you want to really dive in and go beyond the list above, check out these resources:

Jonathan has been blogging since 2009 and is still in awe that the Creator of the Universe desires to have a relationship with him. His passions include spending time with his kids, reading, March Madness, surprise get-a-way trips with his wife, and watching funny YouTube videos.

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Love the suggestions and the list. I am forwarding this on to a few who could benefit from it.

Jonathan Milligan

Awesome, great to hear.

Mary

Great tips here and thanks for the list. As I’m just getting started, this will be great to stick in my back pocket…:-)

Jonathan Milligan

Good for you, Mary.

http://www.facebook.com/terry.lyle.94 Terry Lyle

Jonathan, Thanks so much for this. My wife and I were just talking about how much we’ve enjoyed reading over the years and wondered how could we do something that would let us share this with others. Then here you come with the perfect answer! As we hit our 60’s we think we have something to offer the world since we have had some success and I am contemplating several ideas for blogs (which is how I found your site). Between my wife and I, I could honestly say we have read over 10,000 books at least throughout our lifetimes. I suspect it’s really many more. We gave up TV almost 20 years ago…it leaves a lot of time for reading and simply “being”. We appreciate people like you who share so much so freely. Now I just have to figure out WordPress…it is not as easy as promoted….but, then again…that’s why I found you.

Best Regards,

Terry

Mara Gillott

Great info. I had a bad experience with BookSneeze though.

Jonathan Milligan

Sorry to hear that! I have been with them for 2 years and have had nothing but positive experiences.

http://bloggingyourpassion.com/ Jonathan Milligan

Oh thanks! That is a new one for me.

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